The Pendants
by spyteens1234
Summary: Zidane has been missing for four years after the final battle. His younger sister, Sydney, has always dreamed about going to find him. Now with a plan in place to break out of the castle, Sydney gets her chance to find out what happened to him. What happens when there is a new threat to deal with and the original eight cannot stop it? Sydney and her friends rise to the challenge.
1. What do you think your wearing?

Chapter 1: what do you think you're wearing? "You can't do this to me Zidane! I refuse to be left behind! I've been a part of this adventure from the very beginning." I told him as we stood at the entrance to the Black Mage Village. He had basically told me to stay behind or elseay in the village or got to Lindbum or Alexandria. The whole idea of staying behind wasn't even an option in my mind or anybody else's for that matter. I was only four years younger than him and he was going. Eiko and Vivi were going in and they were younger than I was. "I can and I will Sydney. I just don't want to see get hurt." He said, whispering the last part but I still heard it. "You know I won't get hurt. You know I can take care of myself. I have as much right as you do to be there." I told him. "I don't want to take that chance. You will be staying out here while we head in." He said and I was getting frustrated. "Fine, leave me behind, see if I actually care." I told him before I walked out of the village, heading nowhere in particular. I was upset and angry because I had to stay behind, it was like he didn't trust me. "Sydney, wait!" I heard Dagger yell from me. I sighed before stopping. I turned around to see her running to catch up, her short black hair blowing in the wind. "What do you want Dagger?" I asked once she was close enough to hear me. "I wanted to give you this. The synthesis just finished it." She said as she held her out towards me. I took what she had in her hand into my own to see that it was a pendent. It was an sky blue gem in the shape of a very small dagger with a silver chain connected to the top of it. "It's amazing." I told her as I looked at it. "I'm glad you liked it, Zidane picked the design. He thought you might need a little bit of reminding." She said and I just smiled. He always knew what to do even if he wasn't sure what went wrong. It's been four years. Four years since that moment. Four years since I saw Zidane. Four years since I felt truly happy. I want him to be here right now but I knew that was impossible at the moment. I laid on my queen size bed, playing with my pendent. I haven't taken it off since I got it. I still remember the conversation that took place. I remember a lot of things I wished that I could just forget about. "Sydney, get dressed, we have a whole day to prepare for." My best friend, Katherine, stated as she knocked on my door. I sighed before I got up and head towards the door. I opened it to see a girl with bright pink shoulder length hair and bright green eyes standing there. She was wearing a big white and pink dress that reached the floor along with a shiny tiara. She looked like a princess while I didn't. "Okay, I'm ready, let's go." I told her as I pushed past her and walked down the hall. "What do you think you're wearing?" She asked me as she took in what I was wearing. I had on blue jeans, a white t-shirt underneath a blue vest, my pendent, dark brown boots and white gloves, my long light brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, leaving my bangs and some hair to dangle at the sides of my face. I didn't find anything wrong with my outfit but then again, I was considered a princess of Lindbum at the moment. "My normal clothes. I may be considered a princess but that is not who I really am. Besides, we don't have time for me to change." I told her as we headed towards the conference hall. It was a very short walk but it felt like forever because Katherine was lecturing me about proper attire. We walked in to see Cid and the heads of all departments gathered around the table, a boy with curly brown hair and hazel eyes was standing up against the wall. He was wearing black pants, a white button down shirt underneath a dark red vest and black dress shoes. "Looks like somebody didn't get dress properly this morning." He said when he took a good look at my clothes. God, why were they picking on my clothes? "Sorry Matthew but I plan to run away afterwards." I told him as I stood in between him and Katherine. "Really? That wouldn't be wise. You'll get caught and then our whole plan will be ruined." He said and I just smiled at that comment. The three of us didn't really talk to each other for the rest of the meeting and we all took off running right after it was done. There were only a few hours left before we made our escape. Our escape to find Zidane. My only chance to know if he is really alive in that stupid tree. 


	2. You better tell the truth or else

_Sydney: Hello, chapter 2 of The Pendents is up! I felt bored and I decided to write.  
Owen: Yeah, she should be finishing her english assignment but decided not to.  
Sydney: Yeah but that's okay. Chapter two is done, I can go and sleep cause I gotta get up early tomorrow. It's already 10 pm here in Canada.  
Owen: Sydney does not own Final Fantasy IX or much else. Enjoy, review, favorite, follow. Share with your friends, pretty please. _

* * *

**Chapter 2: You better tell the truth or else.**

The last few hours consisted of us going over the plan, smoothing out all the rough edges and training in the practice room. The plan was rather simple. Once it is dark outside and everyone has gone to bed, we sneak our way to the elevator, take it down to the base level and then head towards the Outer Continent through Fossil Roo. Sure, it would be easier to find if we had a Qu Blue Mage with us but we couldn't ask Quina to lead us there and then turn back. She would go straight to Regent Cid, Freya, Queen Garnet and Steiner telling them where we were going and they would try to stop us.

"You ready?" Matthew said from the doorway of my room. This was probably going to be the last time we actually had a room and a bed for a while. He changed his clothes into something more normal and comfortable. He had a long white sleeve shirt underneath a grey sweater, grey gloves that covered his hands, black pants and grey boots. Attached to his belt were two swords, both hilts were a dark grey color with the symbols of Alexandria and Lindbum.

"Yeah, lets go." I said as I grabbed my bow and arrows off the side table. I was completely battle ready. I had the clothes I wore earlier but now I had two daggers attached to the black belt that was wrapped around my waist with a quiver filled with arrows. A bow was resting across my back with the string against my chest. My light brown tail was slightly moving behind me. The two of us left the room and quietly made our way down the hall towards the lift where Katherine was meeting us. As we walked, I noticed that there weren't any guards patrolling the halls. As we neared the lift I saw shoulder length blue hair and a large yellow bow. Eiko must have found out about our plan and wanted to come with us. As we went closer, I could see that she was wearing a red turtleneck, loose yellow pants that slightly flared out by her ankles, a yellow chest plate that connected to a belt around her waist. She had a flute attached to her belt and had white ankle boots. Katherine had on a black t-shirt underneath a scarlet red vest, white pants and black boots.

"You let Eiko come?" I whispered asked once we came into whispering range.

"It was either she comes or she send everyone after us. I had to let her come besides, it's not like we have a healer. What happens when one of us gets hurt? We didn't have enough time to stock up on potions." Katherine stated and I just nodded. We got on the lift, hiding crouching along the sides in order for people to not see us. Before I could even hit the button, the lift started moving. I looked behind me at Matthew to see this confused look on his face. I looked across the lift at Katherine to see a look of panic set on her face. We did not plan for the lift to stop on the mid level. When the lift stopped and the gate opened, a guy with short blond hair came into the lift. It cut off right at his jaw line and his bangs were moved towards the left side of his forehead. He had bright green eyes. He was wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt underneath an orange jacket, brown boots. He had the Ravenclaw of Alexandria around his neck. I looked over at Katherine before I got up, threw one of my hands over his mouth and pulled him to the ground, hitting the lever to make the lift move to the ground floor.

"Stay quiet and you won't get hurt." I whispered in his ear as the gate opened, showing that we were on the base level. Katherine checked to see if there were any guards outside before motioning us out. Matthew, Katherine and Eiko made their way out of the lift as quickly as they could while I dragged blondie out. We got into the cart and headed towards Dragon's gate before I removed my hand.

"Okay, who are you and why do you have the Ravenclaw?" I asked as I grabbed one of my daggers out of my belt loop. "Remember, we are armed so if you don't tell the truth, something very bad could happen to you." I warned him.

"Owen Til Alexandros IX. I have the Ravenclaw because I took it from Queen Dagger in order to prove who I was here." Blondie, Owen, said. I could tell that he wasn't lying so i put my dagger away.

"I hope you realize that you won't have the chance now." Matthew said as we arrived at Dragon's Gate. The gate was open but there was no one around like we planned it.

"Please, I need to talk to the Regent. Queen Garnet has been depressed for years and I cannot figure out why. I was hoping that the Regent would know." He said as stopping right at the bottom step. I sighed as I turned to look at him.

"The whole reason we're leaving right now is to help the Queen. We're going to get the one thing that the world really needs." I said as I started to walk towards the gate.

"And what is that?" Owen asked making all four of us turn around to look at him.

"My older brother Zidane Tribal. Now, do you have a weapon or not?" I asked him, getting frustrated because we didn't have that much time before the guards came back. He shook his head no and I sighed, taking off my bow and quiver, giving it to him before turning back to the gate. I heard some mumbling and Katherine saying sorry before they started to run to catch up to me. As we walked out of the castle, I breathed in the scent of fresh air. It was good to be out in the world again, just wished I had Zidane next to me.

* * *

"There is the Qu's Marsh." Eiko stated as it came into view. Matthew, Katherine, Owen and I all sighed when she said that. We were only out of the castle for a hour but it was the most critical point at the moment. We had to get far enough away before we could talk normally without having soldiers coming to get us. We managed to get into a few battles and I will admit that Owen was actually pretty good with a bow.

"Lets go, it'll take us a while before we find Fossil Roo." I said as we started to walk faster. The sooner we got there, the faster we could find it. "Isn't that filled with mud?" Owen asked as if horrified with the idea of walking through the marsh.

"Yes but it's our only way to get to the Outer Continent. Now stop whining otherwise we are kicking you in the mud." I said as Eiko ran ahead. It may have only been four years in a castle but she was still as spunky as when she was six.

"Don't go too far Eiko!" Katherine said as she ran to catch up to her. Matthew followed close behind her leaving me with Owen.

"So… How did you get to Lindbum from Alexandria? It's a very long walk and it couldn't be possible to drive an airship without Dag-Queen Garnet noticing." I said almost calling her Dagger. She lost the right to that name when she started acting like a royal again. You would think that she would at least keep the talk at least around us.

"I used the Gargan Roo then walked to Dahi and caught an airship to Lindbum. There weren't many guards around in the castle so I just headed towards the lift where you guys caught me." He said and we just walked in silence for a couple of minutes before he asked, "Why is going to the Outer Continent so important to you?"

"My brother Zidane is there. I don't know if he is alive or not but I gotta try at least. It's been depressing ever since he didn't come back." I told him before walking faster. he must have gotten the hint that I didn't want to talk about Zidane anymore because he followed my pace.

"Welcome to the Qu's Marsh." Matthew said throwing a hand out to show the marsh off but it was only consisted of a mud like substance and think tall grass.

"Yeah, I've been here before, multiple times actually. It is not a really nice place to be. Quina always wanted to play with the frogs." I stated before moving past everyone and into the marsh. We walked onto the shore and stood there looking a little lost

"Wasn't Fossil Roo that way?" Matthew asked pointing to the left. Katherine and I looked that way and shook our heads no. We turned towards the right and started walking as far as we could until we hit more of the mud.

"So through that opening?" Owen asked pointing to the opening in between the grass. I nodded and we all started to walk again. I was starting to get nervous because of the possibility of Quina being around, looking for frogs. As we continued to walk, the grass completely covered us, making it hard for us to see where we were. We continued to walk for a few minutes then the grass opened to show an old evacuation site with the steps still in take. All the grey brick looked like it was going to fall any minute.

"We're here. Welcome to Fossil Roo. Watch your step and beaware. There might be a psycho killer coming after us in there. Always hated that guy." I said to the group, mainly Eiko and Owen because they were new to this area.

"It looks broken." Owen said as we started to walk into Fossil Roo.

"It looked like this last time as well, but you don't have to be scared. You have master fighters by your side." I said as we walked down the steps and into the tunnel. The last of our light going out as we walked in. All I could hear was the clicking of our boots against the stone floor.


	3. Where is everybody?

_Sydney: Hello, chapter 3 is here. I was very bored today and didn't want to write an essay about _A Doll's House_. __Very boring work.  
__Owen: Yes and that means that instead of improving her grade, she'll write for you people.  
__Sydney: Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't own Final Fantasy IX even though I really want to then I would make a Final Fantasy IX-2 and it would be awesome.  
__Owen: Enjoy reading, review, rate, favorite, etc. I don't care what you do as long as you make Sydney happy._

* * *

**Chapter 3: Where is everybody? **

"God, it is so wet!" Katherine said as she got hit in the face with water again. We were in the cavern where there were the faces the shoot jets of water at you to make you get off the vines.

"How many times have you've done that?" I asked from the ledge of where we firsted entered. Owen was standing next to me while Eiko and Matthew were on the other side of the wall.

"She's done this about twenty times this turn. Last time it was fifty." Matthew said and we all laughed at that. She refused to let me climb the vine to hit the switch.

"Shut up, I am going to get it!" Katherine stated as she started to climb the vine once again. I looked over at Owen before standing up and grabbing ahold of the vines and started to climb. I started to climb only to be hit by water. It was cold and wet. As I submerged from the pool of water that was placed at the bottom of the wall, I heard Katherine giggle.

"All part of the plan." I said as I climbed out of the water and walked up the smaller ledge. I grabbed hold of the vine, climbed up to the very top of the vine wall and slowly shuffled my way to the left. I briefly moved down a bit to avoid the last face before jumping onto the ledge where the switch was.

"Awe, come on! Why can't I do that?" Katherine asked as I hit the switch. Probably because she didn't have a tail and all the talents of the angel of death. I grabbed whole of the vine and started to climb down when a jet of water came at me, pushing me off the vine for a second time.

"Okay, I can't wait to get out of here!" I stated as I climbed out of the water. Right after I climbed out, Owen fell in since he needed to cross in order to get out with us.

"Yeah, I second that. It better be sunny out there." He stated as he climbed out and started walking towards the exit, the Gargan ride wasn't that bad until Matthew almost fell off.

"Bright light!" Eiko screamed as we came out of the cave. It was nice to be out in the sun again, plus my clothes and hair will dry soon.

"So now that we are on the Outer Continent, where exactly are we going?" Owen asked as we walked a few minutes away from Fossil Roo. We stopped to rest for a little while. Matthew, Katherine and I started to check out our weapons and other small things that we had brought along.

"The Lifa tree. Memoria appeared right above it when Kuja was still alive. He used the last of his power to transport the group out of Memoria. Zidane went back in to save Kuja." Matthew stated as he took out a lime green pendant that was shaped like half of the ying yang symbol. Vivi gave it to him right before they left us at Lindbum.

"And the only way to get there is to go through Conde Petie which means we have to deal with that whole marriage problem again." Katherine said as she pulled out a bright yellow pendant that was shaped like the other half of the ying yang symbol.

"Then after Conde Petie we have to go through the mountain path and then inside the actually Lifa Tree. Who knows what will happened when we get in there?" I stated as I moved to look at the path we were taking. It was gonna take a while just to get there.

"After we find Zidane, we'll most likely head to Madain Sari and rest. Then we'll have to find a way home. We can't use Fossil Roo since it's blocked off on this side. We'll probably have to go to the Black Mage Village and convince Mikoto and the other genomes to help us." Matthew stated as he helped Eiko up off the floor.

"Great, another visit to my little sister." I muttered as I held my hand out for Owen to grab it.

"I take you do not get along with your family." He said as he grabbed hold of my hand. I pulled him up and we all started to walk.

"They aren't my real family. My real family is on the Mist Continent and in that stupid Lifa Tree. The genomes are just people who look like Zidane and I." I said as we rounded the corner. Conde Petie was resting on two lifa roots right above our heads.

"Guys, am I the only one noticing that there are no monsters around?" Matthew asked making the rest of us look around.

"Are there suppose to be monsters around here?" Owen asked and I just nodded my head. Matthew was right, there were no monsters around here like there used to be. It was almost like they were all taken away.

"Lets just try to get to Conde Petie and not worry about this anymore." Katherine said as we continued to walk. We didn't talk that much as we walked mainly because we were all thinking about different things. Everything from Zidane to the genomes to the Lifa Tree. Throughout our walk, we didn't encounter any kind of monster which put me on edge even more.

* * *

"So this is Conde Petie. There is not much here." Owen said and I tried not roll my eyes at the way he was talking.

"Okay, before we go in, we gotta fix the way you talk. You sound too preppy and royal." I said as I grabbed his arm to stop him from walking inside.

"What do you mean but 'too royal'?" Owen asked and I heard Matthews sigh from behind me.

"You talk like you're still in the place and not out in the real world. You have to talk more like us." I told him.

"You mean talk like a thief? Well that shouldn't be that hard." Owen stated before I slapped the back of his head.

"Don't insult thieves. We tend to be better than you think." I told him as I looked over at Conde Petie. It was a simple flat building that acted like a bridge. There was moss and green plants growing on the stone along with dead roots from the Lifa Tree. It makes me wonder how Conde Petie is still standing.

"We going in or what?" Eiko asked getting a bit frustrated with the fact that we weren't moving.

"We will, we just gotta make a plan first." Katherine said, the rest of us turning towards her.

"Right, if we have to be married in order to go through, we need a couple to do it. I vote Sydney and Owen." Matthew said while Eiko and Katherine nodded their heads.

"Why us? And what about you three?" Owen asked.

"Are you trying to do what I think you're trying to do?" I asked and they just shrugged their shoulders. I sighed before stepping on the root, walking towards the village.

* * *

"Hello?! Rally-ho!" Katherine said as we walked into Conde Petie. It was completely quiet which was odd since those dwarves always liked to make noise and shout.

"Okay, here is what we're gonna do. Katherine, Eiko, you guys go to the item shop, get as much as you can carry. Matthew, Owen, you two go to the weapons shop, see if you can find any good weapons that we can use. Owen, find a better weapon than a bow and arrow, something that can be used in close combat. I'll see if there are any dwarves left. We meet at the exit once we're done." I told the group before heading down the straight corridor that lead to a hallway. I slowly made my way into the inn to see that nobody was there. After checking all the hiding placed, I headed back out to the hallway and up the stairs. The shrine on the upper floor consisted of the stone floor with a giant square hole cut out of it. A large Kirkboat was hanging in the middle of the shrine where couples use to stand in order for Father David Heavenguard to conduct his ritual ceremonies. I couldn't help but laugh as the memory of Zidane and Dagger getting married.

"Firaga!" Somebody screamed from across the room before the temperature of the room rised. Soon I was engulfed in a circle of fire that was closing in around me. When the fire died down, I was kneeling on the ground, my clothes having holes in them. I looked up to see a guy about sixteen years old with messy long white hair that stopped right at the edge of his jaw. He had bright yellow eyes and was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, black pants and black shoes. "Who are you?" I asked as I got up from kneeling position and grabbed the handles of my daggers. If he wanted a fight, I would be more than willing to give him one.

"Nobody that would concern you. After all, you will be gone soon. Water!" He shouted at the end of his statement. I quickly cartwheeled away from where he was aiming, letting the water attack nothing. I quickly moved towards the guy, pulling my daggers out.

"Slow!" He shouted after I slashed at him a couple of times. My movements slowed down, making it easier for him to hit me. I could feel pain every single time he managed to hit me.

"Try this one on for size. Tidal Flame!" He said as a wave of fire appeared right in front of him which was aimed right at me. Since I still had slow on, I couldn't avoid it so I was hit. I wound up flying through the wall because that attack was more powerful than what Zidane could do.

"Sydney!" I heard Matthew said as I hit the Lifa Tree root. It was hurt like hell but I couldn't worry about the pain. I had to worry about that idiot who knew Vivi and Zidane's attacks. What else could he know?

"I'm fine, just focus on him." I nodded my head up towards the hole where the white haired guy was standing. He was looking down at us with a huge smile on his face. Matthew and Owen were at my sides helping me into a standing position.

"Well, well, well. It looks like you have friends. This should become interesting." The guy said as the three of us exchanged looks. This was not going to be fair fight since we weren't at our strongest and we didn't even know all of Owen's abilities. The only way we would be able to keep our lives is if we were to run towards the Lifa Tree and even that was not going to be easy.


End file.
